


Wayward

by YukiSkyes



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Alternate universe - Mafia, BAMF Thanatos, Eye Gouging, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Thanatos, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27277003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiSkyes/pseuds/YukiSkyes
Summary: There was a knock at Zagreus's door. He opened it, expecting his neighbor asking him to rock-sit again. Instead, it was a very familiar man in a sharp suit and long coat. In contrast, Zagreus was still in the T-shirt and sweatpants he'd rolled out of bed in."If I was actually your enemy, you'd be dead right now," Thanatos informed him.
Relationships: Thanatos & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 375





	1. Found

**Author's Note:**

> The mafia AU nobody asked for but I'm shoving down your throats anyway! Full disclosure, I never personally played this game and if you must throw all your tomatoes at me, do so. I love them. I tried my best with Youtube, so I hope I got everyone's characterizations right.

There was someone knocking on Zagreus’s door. He looked up from his breakfast to glance over. While he kept friendly relations with his neighbors, not many of them would come to his apartment. The only ones it could be were either his landlord or Sisyphus asking him to rock-sit again.

He got up from his seat and opened the door only to freeze, wide-eyed at exactly who stood at the threshold.

It was a very familiar man in a crisp charcoal suit, a long black trench coat, and a matching hat with not a hair out of place, but the refined aura of his sharply dressed attire belaid the violence that no doubt hid within its folds. Though he was only a bit taller than Zagreus, his presence seemed to fill the doorway.

Zagreus, in contrast, wore a wrinkled T-shirt he’d rolled out of bed in and faded sweatpants. He probably had some crumbs stuck around his gaping mouth too from the toast he’d nearly dropped when he saw who had paid him an unexpected visit.

“T-Than?” Zagreus spluttered.

“If I was actually your enemy, you’d be dead right now,” Thanatos informed too flatly to be indifference. It was more like he’d hammered down every bit of the roiling emotions Zagreus could tell he was feeling through his stiff posture and the white-knuckled curl of the fist not tucked in his pocket.

Thanatos shouldered past him into the little apartment Zagreus managed to get. It was the best he could do with limited funds and a bogus identity he wouldn’t even have if Nyx didn’t have the foresight to predict he’d leave someday. The scowl and the way thin lips curled in distaste said everything Thanatos thought about his living situation, but Zagreus refused to be ashamed. It was a piece of the world he’d finally carved out for himself.

“How’d you find me?” Zagreus asked, stupefied, barely remembering to shut the door.

Thanatos’s piercing look shot through Zagreus like a bullet he couldn’t help fidget under. There was a reason Thanatos was one of the best hitmen the House of Hades had to offer but holding more sway than that was their shared childhood that wrung drops of guilt from him.

“It’s only been two months, but have you already forgotten what your family deals in? You’ve done an admittedly good job covering your tracks but there’s only so much you could do.”

Thanatos sat down on the beaten and slightly ripped up sofa Zagreus had bought from a brother of the friend of his boss at the restaurant he worked in. With his posture and the way he crossed his legs and folded his hands on his lap as he stared judgingly at Zagreus, however, it might as well be one of the plush chairs at the House’s conference room.

“So… Father knows I’m here, and he’s sent you to fetch me,” Zagreus said steadily, accidentally crumbling his toast. Bits of it fell on the threadbare carpet. He didn’t care.

“Do you really think I’m here because of your father?” Thanatos bit out tersely with a scowl, a flicker of something like insult flashing across his face. “No, actually, he doesn’t know you’re here, but give me a good reason why I shouldn’t call him right now to tell him.”

Zagreus let out a breath of relief. He went to the table separating kitchen from living room to drop the remnants of his toast on the plate.

“Didn’t I already leave a note explaining everything?” he asked as he brushed off his hands.

“Explain? What was it supposed to explain? That you grew tired of us and didn’t even have the decency to say it to our faces?”

Zagreus could hear the cold anger seething between the cracks of his words like the vapor of liquid nitrogen. He looked at him sharply with a frown.

“ _No,_ ” Zagreus said emphatically, smacking his hands on the table and clattering his plate of half-eaten food and glass of orange juice. “You’re all family! Of course I wouldn’t just grow tired of you! But it’s…”

He pursed his lips, unsure how to say that it wasn’t enough. The shine of perpetual disappointment in his father’s eyes whenever he caught sight of him that hurt more than he wanted it to; wandering the same rooms, hallways, and grounds in the world’s biggest birdcage; the listlessness and loneliness of his existence… There was a hole inside him he didn’t know how to fill. All he knew was that he’d never find what he was looking for at home. So, he ran away.

It wasn’t by any means an easy decision. He was leaving behind everything good as well as bad. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if his father disowned him the moment he found out, but he was tired of being a ghost in his own house.

“This was something I had to do for myself,” Zagreus finally said quietly. “You understand, don’t you?”

They’d grown up together, resided with one another, and shared secrets with each other. Thanatos didn’t just _know_ his life but _lived_ through Zagreus’s feud with his father and his growing discontent in the mansion. So surely, he’d understand why Zagreus ran away.

Thanatos’s expression didn’t lighten up, however. He simply stared at him in stony silence.

“Than?” Zagreus prodded uneasily.

They’d had their fair amount of fights over the years, so he was familiar with the form of Thanatos’s anger, but this felt different. He always resorted to cold, withdrawn silences and avoidance, and abrupt, biting tones when he couldn’t. He filled the room with the inherent loneliness his silence foreboded and drowned Zagreus in it, but he wasn’t leaving as he typically would either.

“You left.” There was a strange quality in Thanatos’s voice Zagreus had never heard before. “You didn’t say good-bye, you didn’t prepare or plan, and you apparently never thought about the consequences either.”

He gazed deeply into him, and the subtle anguish in it arrested Zagreus’s breath.

“I found you easily, Zag.” Thanatos said softly, but Zagreus could still hear the faint way his voice shook. “What makes you think our enemies couldn’t do the same? We were careful not to let anyone outside our inner circle know you were gone, but it’d only take one tiny slip-up for our enemies to realize Tartarus’s only heir was no longer under protection, and they’d have hunted you down to kill you or worse. Do you have any idea…”

A lump sat heavily in Zagreus’s throat.

“Than…” he croaked.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but what could he say? He knew people would miss him, and he’d thought about the dangers, but ultimately, he decided leaving was still worth it. Afterwards, he’d been so set on leaping over the tall gates of the House with nothing but a duffel full of clothes, a few essentials, and a thick wad of cash that he hadn’t thought about how others might worry for his well-being.

Apologies weren’t nearly enough to make up for the wildly huge oversight.

Thanatos shook his head and straightened with a sharp inhale, visibly gathering himself together again into the impassive man his reputation knew him for.

“You know what? Never mind. You’ve clearly made your choice. There’s no point being here.” Zagreus watched helplessly as Thanatos stood and made his way to the door. He paused with a hand on the knob to bid pointedly and cuttingly, “Good- _bye,_ Zagreus,” before opening it and leaving.

Zagreus hung his head and blew out a gusty breath.

Shit. He’d really screwed up. Thanatos, even rightfully furious and worried for him as he was, had still expressed reluctant willingness to respect his decision, even going behind his father’s back to keep his whereabouts secret. Now who knew if this bitter parting was going to be the last memory he had of Thanatos.

A piece of lead formed in his stomach, crowding out any appetite he’d have. With heavy limbs and heavier heart, he threw away his breakfast remains and went to get changed for work.

The Oaken was a bus ride and a ten minute walk away from his apartment. It was small but homey, decorated with all kinds of trinkets along the walls. Glass sphere lights hung from the ceiling, giving off a soft light illuminating the dark wood tables and chairs. There was a little raised platform in the back where people could perform. Eurydice’s musician husband, Orpheus, sometimes sang and played there as well. If Eurydice wasn’t busy in the kitchen, she’d even duet with him.

The bell above the door tinkled as Zagreus pushed it open. Eurydice was in the middle of putting down the chairs when he entered.

“You look like you accidentally ran over a puppy,” she observed bluntly.

Zagreus winced. Was it that obvious he felt horrible?

“I… had a bit of a fight with a friend,” he said as he went around the counter to the closet next to the kitchen door to put away his jacket and swap it with his apron.

“A fight, huh?” she said, chewing on her toothpick like she was chewing over his words. “You don’t seem like the kind of guy to fight with friends unless it was really serious.”

“It _was_ serious, and now I don’t know if he’d ever want to see me again,” Zagreus murmured dispiritedly as he helped lower the chairs.

“Well now, you don’t know that. Don’t make assumptions about how other people will act before they’ve even done it. Maybe your friend just needs some space. Give it some time.”

Maybe. Thanatos wasn’t so much upset because he couldn’t understand why Zagreus left, but because he didn’t seem to want to accept it and because he was worried. Maybe given enough time to cool down (or warm up in the case of Thanatos’s frigid fury), they could talk it over again. The tentative hope made Zagreus feel a little better, and it wormed a small smile out of him.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Eurydice.”

Eurydice waved it away.

“You don’t need to thank me. I haven’t done anything.”

They finished setting up, and the morning customers started trickling in. The rest of the day proceeded as normal. The next day did as well. And the next. And the next. And the one after that until an entire otherwise uneventful month passed.

Thanatos hadn’t contacted him once.

Zagreus tried not to be too dejected or disappointed. Just as it was up to him whether he stayed or left the House, it was up to Thanatos whether to cut him out of his life or not, especially when Zagreus was no longer part of Tartarus, so he wasn't even obligated to confer with him about work anymore.

He idly twirled a pen between his fingers, leaning against the counter. The lunch rush was over, and now it was the slow period before dinner which meant Zagreus had plenty of time to kill.

The bell chimed, and Zagreus looked up with his best smile and a greeting on the tip of his tongue only for it to freeze in place at the sight of Thanatos standing there taking stock of the place much like he did at Zagreus’s messy apartment.

“Than?” Zagreus said, embarrassingly hopeful.

Thanatos finally turned his attention to him. He didn’t seem surprised to see him, so he must have known where Zagreus worked and purposely came.

“Hello, Zagreus,” he greeted. It was hard to tell what he was feeling through his tone but the fact he was here at all was a good sign.

“Um… take a seat wherever you want. I’ll bring you a menu and a glass of water.”

Thanatos nodded and took a seat while Zagreus bustled to do just that, trying not to shake with anxious excitement.

He brought the items to the table towards the back and set them down but before he could leave, Thanatos grabbed his wrist. Zagreus stilled.

“Wait. Can we… talk?”

The restaurant was empty at this hour, so there wasn’t anyone else to tend to. Zagreus glanced towards the kitchen and seeing that Eurydice hadn’t peeked out yet, he nodded and took the seat across his childhood friend.

Thanatos’s eyes darted around like he was trying to figure out what to say before starting slowly, “I… I suppose I’ve always known the day would come when you’d leave. You were always restless, like you didn’t belong in your own skin but somehow, it always felt like it’d come later, never now. I should’ve known better. All you needed was one more reason no matter how small. Hoping it’d never break the camel’s back was foolish.”

“Than, for all it’s worth, I really am sorry I’m putting you through all that,” Zagreus said with all the sincerity he could muster. “Even though it was something I felt like I had to do, I know it was selfish of me, but I still never wanted to hurt anyone, much less you.”

“I know, Zag,” Thanatos said softly, looking down at the table. “You never do.”

“How’s everyone doing?” Zagreus asked.

“They're fine. They miss you,” Thanatos replied. “They want you to come home.”

Zagreus raised a skeptical brow.

“Everyone?”

Thanatos hesitated, and Zagreus scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

“Of course Father doesn’t care. He probably thinks it’s just a little phase, maybe thinks I’ll frolick my fill and when I’ve had enough roughing it out, I’ll return home with my tail between my legs.”

Thanatos remained quiet, but it wasn’t the frigid angry kind, just… a sad kind where he’d look away trying to hide his pain.

Zagreus ached for him. As lonely as he was at the House, Thanatos was just as lonely if not more so. At least Zagreus had Achilles, Dusa, Hypnos, Nyx, and Meg to keep him company fairly regularly. Thanatos’s days were so full of jobs, it became his life. He was rarely home, and when he was, there was only so much time he could stay before he was called away again.

“Hey,” Zagreus began hesitantly, “it’s not as though we could never see each other ever again. If you want, maybe… we could go out for a drink together some time? I know you’re busy so you don’t have to but… I’d love to spend time with you even if it’s only once in a while.”

He tried not to sound too expectant even as his heart pounded hard in his chest. He didn’t want to lose Thanatos.

“I…” Thanatos seemed caught off guard at the offer. It took a short while for him to answer. “Yes… Yes, I’d…” a slow smile curled the corners of his lips, “I’d like that too.”

An elated grin broke out across Zagreus’s face. Thanatos ducked his head.

“Great, then text me whenever you have the time. I’ll give you my new number.”

He took out his phone and texted Thanatos who saved it.

Mood considerably lightened, he offered, “Since you’re here anyway, do you want something to eat? Eurydice makes a mean dish.”

“No, maybe another time.” Thanatos stood. “Work calls, as always.”

“Good luck and be careful out there,” Zagreus said, getting up as well. The soft smile he got in turn made his heart skip a beat.

“You take care as well.”

Zagreus watched Thanatos leave but this time, their relationship looked brighter.


	2. Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed a bit in the summary and at the beginning of the first chapter because while I was going to sleep one night, my brain suddenly shouted, "IDEA!" and I mentally slapped myself because A) I was trying to sleep and B) why tf didn't you think of this earlier, brain? Anyway...

Despite their shared history, a bond that ran deeper than blood, and the hot anger that made him want to shake Zagreus to his senses, Thanatos really did intend to make good on his farewell to him. If he no longer wanted anything to do with hi— _them_ , then fine. Zagreus wasn’t the only one who knew how to leave.

Thanatos was well aware of how petulant it was but the sharp pain akin to being gutted from navel to neck when he found out Zagreus was _gone_ still throbbed too horribly for him to care about dignity or pride.

His work kept him too busy to care about what Zagreus was up to anyway. Thanatos had contracts to fulfill, information-gathering and planning to worry about, and execution in both senses of the word to linger on how perfectly fine Zagreus was without him. He shouldn’t, not when he was staring down the scope of his sniper rifle at his target right now.

The target leaned against his balcony railings with a cigarette between his fingers and a glass of wine at his elbow. He was the young scion of some business or other that had just dipped its fingers into the blackened core of the city’s Underworld. Unluckily for him, he was going to die simply for the transgression of his father’s unfavorable deals with Olympus Inc.

Unbidden, pleading heterochromatic eyes floated to the forefront of Thanatos’s conscious. He squeezed his own eyes shut, willing them away. This was not the place.

When he opened them again, the target was about to leave.

Clenching his jaw, he forced himself to focus. The target had one foot in his penthouse. He lined up the shot, but just as he fired, Zagreus flashed across his mind, jolting his aim.

It still hit true. Brain matter and blood burst out the bullet’s exit in a mini gory firework Thanatos had seen so many times, he barely lingered to watch beyond confirming the kill in favor of packing his rifle in order to vacate immediately.

It was a clean shot but his aim was still too high. It was sloppy, far from the perfection that characterized who the Underworld knew as the Reaper.

Thanatos didn’t take pride in such a reputation nor did he care. This was simply work. He just preferred doing things well, and he happened to be good at it. But this sloppiness was a sign that he was getting dangerously distracted. When he’d pulled the trigger, a sudden thought that this could easily be Zagreus on the other end of some other assassin’s scope struck him.

He needed to leave it behind. Zagreus knew the risks. He just didn’t care. Thanatos nearly wished he didn’t either.

What did Zagreus even mean by “this was something he had to do for himself”? Why did he have to do anything at all? His place as Tartarus’s next leader was secure. When Hades stepped down, everyone would follow him. It went without saying that Thanatos would too. Zagreus would make Tartarus better than it ever was, and Thanatos would be right there beside him, ready to follow him to the ends of the Earth for the rest of his life.

He had a lot of such thoughts about their future. Now it was all dust. He felt stupid for being the only one holding such dreams.

Thanatos gripped the steering wheel of his car tighter and turned a corner more sharply than he needed to before realizing he’d ended up in a street he’d never been to before yet was still strangely familiar. The reason why only clicked when he cruised past the storefront of a building he’d only seen in pictures during his search for his missing friend: it was the restaurant Zagreus worked in.

What could ever compel him to come here? The last thing he wanted was to see Zagreus right now. Or at least, it should’ve been…

He parked a short distance away across the street and flexed his traitorous hands on the wheel, his leather gloves creaking against it.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to stay. He felt pathetically forlorn, he was tired of trying not to care, but more than anything, he was angry; angry with Zagreus for leaving, angry he was here at all, angry that he wasn’t enough for him to stay, and angry that he hadn’t found out Zagreus was gone until well after a week he’d already left.

He’d never known such panic. He’d been so disoriented by the sudden loss, the bewilderment, and the budding feeling of betrayal that for the first time, he’d dared engage Hades on a topic other than work.

Hades didn’t berate him for it. He didn’t even raise his voice. If he did, at least it showed he was affected in some capacity that his only son was missing but all he said was, “Don’t concern yourself with him. Just focus on your work.”

There’d been no search parties or any search period. The only thing he did was inform every member of Tartarus to keep an eye out for Zagreus and bring him home if found.

For the first time Thanatos could remember, he’d been angry at Hades too, enough to almost think Zagreus was right for leaving.

He couldn’t claim to fully understand the tension between Zagreus and Hades. He had no father, after all, and his mother had always been nothing but loving and supportive, but he’d witnessed enough aftermaths that it didn’t matter if he never understood. All that did matter was that it hurt Zagreus; his father’s scathing words residing in his shaky smiles and wet eyes.

Eventually, as they grew older, Zagreus learned to bite back instead. Thanatos thought he’d come to press on despite it all. He’d always been spirited and willful, after all. Thanatos thought he was fine. He’d thought…

Maybe deep inside, the one Thanatos was the most furious with was himself.

The door of The Oaken opened, and Zagreus stepped out, finished with the day’s work.

Almost like his very presence commanded it, Thanatos was helpless not to follow him with his eyes, his heart clenching. He was angry, hurt, sorrowful, and everything in between, but above all, the unshakeable truth of the matter was that he missed him so deeply that he could drown in it. He just wanted his best friend back.

Zagreus had almost made it to the end of the street. Thanatos sighed and reached for the gearshift but stopped when he spotted a man in the corner a little ways from his car. He had his phone out and it was pointed to… Zagreus?

Alarms immediately went off in his head. Thanatos swiftly took a picture of the man, and without taking his eyes off of him, he called Hypnos. Getting replies to texts could take weeks if any came at all, and Thanatos hardly had that kind of time on normal days much less now.

No one picked up at the first ring. Gritting his teeth, Thanatos tried again. With each failed call, the irritated impatience boiled hotter and hotter in his stomach until he could explode. He had some strong choice words for Hypnos next they meet.

“Hypnos!” he barked the second the call _finally_ connected. The man had watched Zagreus until he was too far away to see before leaving. Fortunately for that man, he didn’t make the unknowing mistake of actually trying to follow Zagreus.

There was a yelp followed by loud clattering that sounded like Hypnos had dropped his phone.

Thanatos tamped down the growl during the scant few seconds it took Hypnos to scramble for his phone and answer in tentative disbelief, “Thanatos? W-wh—you never call—”

“I need you to get me any information you can find on someone. Also, look up his affiliations if any.”

Without waiting for Hypnos to reply, he sent the picture before talking over his brother who was still clamoring in confusion.

“Did you get it?”

There was a brief pause before Hypnos slowly answered, “Yeees?”

“Good. Get on it immediately. _I mean it,_ Hypnos. None of your procrastination or convenient amnesia. Do your job and call me as soon as you find out.”

He moved to hang up, but Hypnos cried, “Wait!”

Thanatos lifted the phone to his ear again.

“Yes?”

“It’s about Zagreus, isn’t it?”

The adrenaline turned into stone in his veins, arresting his ability to say anything or think. Why was his head-in-the-clouds twin only uncannily perceptive at the worst times? His silence was all the confirmation Hypnos needed.

“It is!” he exclaimed excitedly, sounding more awake than he did ninety percent of the time. “Did you find him? You did, didn’t you?”

Thanatos hesitated. He didn’t want to lie to his brother, and telling him the truth would ensure he’d actually get this done in a timely fashion. But even in this kind of situation where Zagreus’s safety _should_ take priority, betraying his trust and confidence made Thanatos’s gut twist tight enough to cramp.

“Get it to me in twenty-four hours,” he said instead, bypassing the question entirely. “Good-bye, Hypnos.”

He hung up. There wasn’t anything he could do about Hypnos’s (correct) suspicions but at least Thanatos would have plausible deniability if his brother leaked their conversation and the favor he asked.

He rested his head against the steering wheel with a slow breath. He was so tense his entire body ached, and his mind swirled hectically like churning undercurrents with worst case scenarios.

“Even when you’re not around, why do you always give me so much trouble?” he murmured to himself, too drained to muster the annoyance he should feel right now.

The next night, Thanatos received the information he requested. He skimmed it for the relevant details. The man’s name didn’t matter. Names never did to him. He merely memorized the address before checking affiliations, the most prominent of which was Hexagon.

Ah, that bunch. It was an organization that advocated stricter law enforcement and prison policies. They had a surprisingly large following, and they were notorious for often taking the law into their own hands. They were vigilantes at best, terrorists at worst.

Theseus, the charismatic founder, leader, and face of Hexagon, was well-known for being a former police officer discharged after it was discovered he’d killed the four thieves he’d been assigned to investigate. In the Underworld, however, what he was most well-known for was being the host and champion of the biggest illegal fighting ring in the city.

Who knew what Theseus would do with knowledge about Zagreus being so far from home? Send people to capture him for one of his shows in the ring, probably. It was his favorite MO. It allowed Theseus to inflate his ego, after all.

Thanatos sneered as he prepared his tools. As if he’d ever let that happen.

He couldn’t kill someone this influential without Hades’s express command. He was already risking everything going behind his boss’s back to go on this unauthorized mission, so Theseus got to live. How lucky for him. That didn’t mean they couldn’t have a little chat.

When Theseus had started rising in prominence, Hades had ordered Nyx to do reconnaissance on Theseus to learn as much as possible about him. They’d kept an eye on him ever since. Thanatos accessed that information now, pulling up blueprints and security details.

Once he had a plan, he moved out. He would take care of the small fry first before moving onto the slightly bigger one.

Killing the man was depressingly easy. Thanatos knocked on his apartment door, and the moment he opened up in the same guileless way Zagreus had, Thanatos struck the man in the kidney. As he reeled from the pain, Thanatos dispatched him with a swift, precise slice across the throat.

The man clutched at his neck, choking on blood as he gurgled for air. He collapsed, but his wild, terrified eyes fixed on Thanatos as he stared down at him, waiting for him to die.

Finally, when his convulsions died down, Thanatos knelt next to the head, careful not to step in any blood. He held it steady as he lowered his knife below the eye socket and slowly began to pry the eyeball out. The process somehow always reminded him of coring apples or carving pumpkins.

The eyeball popped free, and Thanatos put it in a little leather drawstring pouch. He wiped the blade off on the man’s shirt before sheathing it.

Now for Theseus.

His home was as extravagant as his personality and lifestyle, all boastful posturing and grandiose egotism. Put simply, it was gaudy. Thanatos much preferred the House’s subtle yet tasteful display of wealth and power over this eyesore.

As expected, security was tight with state of the art technology and a total of seventeen guards patrolling the property while three others monitored cameras. But as impressive as the set-up was, Thanatos was about to teach Theseus that a false sense of security was worse than no security at all.

He scaled the wrought iron fence surrounding the perimeter and dropped to the other side. He picked up a large leaf and a small rock from the ground as he strode towards the mansion, avoiding the hidden cameras and motion detectors on the way.

The entryway closest to the control room had a camera pointed at it and required identification to access. Using the leaf, he covered the lens, careful not to be caught in-frame, and waited next to the door.

A short time passed before the door opened outward, keeping Thanatos hidden until he stepped out to crack the man’s neck from behind in one fluid movement.

He dragged the body inside before flicking the rock to dislodge the leaf through the door crack which he then closed completely.

He silently made his way down the hallway until he reached the control room on the left.

The guards were barely paying attention to the screens. Doubtless they were professionals. Tactical gear could hardly be granted to ordinary guards after all, but too many nights of peace could make even the most stalwart complacent.

He started with the one closest to him, forcibly twisting his neck from where he sat on his chair.

The crunch of dislocated bone was loud in the quiet, alerting the other one into reaching for his gun, but Thanatos had already rushed him, jamming his knife right through his skull.

After cleaning off the blood, he confirmed the locations of the remaining guards against his memory of their patrol routes before disabling all security. Now he could begin.

With systematic efficiency, he hunted them down and meticulously broke each of their necks for the sake of making his points: One, he might be known for his gunmanship but distance was inconsequential to him when it came to killing; two, no place was safe from him; and three, Theseus would never know Thanatos was there if he decided to come.

Once he’d killed all the guards, he made his way to Theseus’s bedroom. It was just as garish as the rest of his house filled with statues and paintings of Theseus. Trophies he’d commissioned himself for his fighting tournaments lined the walls as well as a large taxidermied boar next to a yawning marble fireplace.

Thanatos grabbed the plush armchair in front of it and pulled it over to the bedside, making sure the clawed legs scraped across the wooden parts of the floor not covered by luxuriant rugs.

He sat down with perfect poise as Theseus awoke with a confused mutter. He turned towards Thanatos and froze.

“Theseus,” Thanatos greeted dully.

Suddenly, with a short, high-pitched scream, Theseus was wide awake, scrambling all the way to the other side of his king-sized canopy bed as though the scant distance he put between them made any difference if Thanatos decided to kill him.

“W-w-who are you?!” Theseus screeched. “How’d you get in here?!”

Thanatos’s brow twitched in annoyance as his voice assaulted his ears like nails on a chalkboard.

“Quiet.”

Theseus clamped his mouth shut with an audible click. The harsh sound of his breathing filled the room, and the whites of his eyes were stark in the dark.

“Don’t speak. Just nod or shake your head. It seems you don’t recognize my appearance. I’m Thanatos. You at least know that name, correct?”

Theseus trembled as he nodded.

“Do you know why I’m here?”

He started to shake his head but paused mid-action. His trembling worsened to the point Thanatos wouldn’t be surprised if he soiled himself.

“So you do know,” Thanatos intoned. “Good, but I’ll make it clear anyway: you are not to make a move against Zagreus Khthonios. You are to delete everything you have on him, and you will forget any information pertaining to him. You are not to leak his information to anyone, and you are not to tell anyone I was here. Violate any of that, and you’ll be dead before you know it. Am I understood?”

Theseus nodded so vigorously, he could snap his own neck. That would be admittedly amusing.

“Good. I have a present for you.”

From the pocket of his coat, Thanatos withdrew the pouch and laid it on the bed. Theseus eyed it like it was a bomb instead.

Thanatos stood and left.

Theseus’s shrill, terrified scream could be heard all the way outside.

\---

Thanatos monitored Theseus closely in between jobs for a few weeks afterwards to see if he was stupid enough to ignore his threats, but Theseus remained silent save for hiring the famed Asterius as a bodyguard.

Now, how should he confront Zagreus about the bullet he almost didn’t dodge?

Familiar hurt betrayal rekindled itself alongside the dim coals of anger at Zagreus’s carelessness as he stared at the restaurant from across the street. But it was all embers. He wanted Zagreus safe more than he wanted to fight with him.

He entered the restaurant, taking stock of its welcoming atmosphere and its personable décor.

“Than?” Zagreus’s familiar voice piped out, tentatively and hopefully.

Thanatos finally turned to him.

In the afternoon light, Zagreus was ruddy with joy, eyes a lantern glowing with careful optimism. The warmth that Thanatos had always associated with his presence started to crumble his resolve like it was brittle paper.

Zagreus felt like he belonged right there surrounded by pictures of laughing people and the faint hum of the restaurant owner in the background. It stung.

“Hello, Zagreus,” he greeted.

“Um… take a seat where you want. I’ll bring you a menu and a glass of water.”

Thanatos didn’t intend to stay for long, but he nodded and sat down towards the back so he could have a moment to sort himself out.

He came here to tell Zagreus about the danger he’d been in. He had to know for his own safety. Of course it was only that…

Zagreus walked up to him to put down the water and menu, but Thanatos grabbed him before he could go.

“Wait. Can we… talk?”

Why was he so uncertain? Why wasn’t he more assertive about this?

Zagreus glanced around the restaurant before nodding and sliding into the chair across from him.

 _“Did you know you were found out?”_ and, _“You were too naïve if you thought it’d be as easy to leave your past and background as easily as you left the House,”_ and _“You should watch out for yourself more,”_ all crowded Thanatos’s mouth, but what came out instead was, “I… I suppose I’ve always known the day would come when you’d leave.”

He hadn’t meant to say that but it poured out anyway, and with each word he spoke, he realized more and more the truth in them.

He hadn’t come to warn Zagreus, not really. Zagreus was fully capable of taking care of himself. Thanatos just came to use the danger he was in to strong arm him home, but how could he when he knew deep down that Zagreus never fully belonged in the Underworld?

That wasn’t to say Zagreus was innocent. Thanatos had once witnessed him mercilessly shoot three men in the heart before stabbing a fourth in the gut with no more remorse than, “Sorry, nothing personal.”

Thanatos had never experienced that side of his effervescent childhood friend before. It’d left him shaken. But still, at Zagreus’s core, he was good in a way few things in the Underworld were.

Zagreus apologized and called his own actions selfish, but Thanatos was no longer sure. Was it selfish of Zagreus to leave? Or selfish of them—of _Thanatos_ —to keep him?

Maybe… maybe letting go truly was for the best if it meant his happiness.

A yawning hole started to open in the depths of his heart, threatening to suck him in never to see sunlight again.

“Hey,” Zagreus said tentatively, “it’s not as though we could never see each other ever again. If you want, maybe… we could go out for a drink together some time? I know you’re busy so you don’t have to but… I’d love to spend time with you even if it’s only once in a while.”

Thanatos blinked.

“I…”

Zagreus still wanted to see him? It was still okay for a piece of the Underworld to linger beside him?

“Yes,” Thanatos accepted, stunned, but the thought quickly warmed him like his mother’s lavender tea. “Yes, I’d… I’d like that too,” he said, more firmly.

The ecstatic grin that overtook Zagreus’s face was too radiant to look at directly. Thanatos’s own face felt a bit hot, like the intensity of his childhood friend’s elation truly was the sun. Thanatos couldn’t remember the last time Zagreus had been so happy, and to think it was all because of the prospect they could spend time together.

Yes, this was for the best.

The hole inside Thanatos’s heart was suddenly overflowing instead.

He might be in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, Theseus freaks out if you summon Thanatos against him. I want to know what his dialogue is so bad, but there’s no Youtube video for it. Such big sad OTL


End file.
